Rumpke contract OK'd (05/30/07)

A wrong assumption by a recycling hauler won't mean a higher price paid by the county's solid waste management district.

But at least one member of the district board still wasn't very happy with a solution that includes monthly pick-up of recyclable materials - as opposed to every two weeks - from schools in western Jay County.

Rumpke, which had quoted the Jay County Solid Waste District a per-week price several weeks ago to collect recycled materials from the county's 10 schools, informed district director Kay Hayes on May 22 that it could not do collections at schools in Pennville, Redkey and Dunkirk for that price.

A company official proposed at a special meeting Tuesday that the monthly price remain the same as quoted previously, but that an extra dumpster be placed at the four schools on the west side and collections be done monthly as opposed to bi-weekly.

"What we have put together is the same service, but not so many trips," Mike Cooper of Rumpke told the board, which met Tuesday in the commissioners' room at the Jay County Courthouse.

Although members of the board eventually voted 4-1 to approve a one-year recycling hauling contract with Rumpke - pending approval from the four affected schools for the extra dumpster - board member Gerald Kirby made it clear he wasn't happy.

"They accepted our quote, and then tried to change ... in retail, that's bait-and-switch. It's a problem ... but it's not our problem."

Kirby was the lone dissenter on a vote to OK the contract with Rumpke. Voting to approve the contract were board members Bill Gibson, Faron Parr, Gary Theurer and Milo Miller Jr.

Cooper said that Rumpke, which recently won the curbside recycling contract for the city of Portland, was not aware that elementary schools in Pennville, Redkey and Dunkirk, along with the middle school in Dunkirk, were so far outside the Portland city limits.

Waste district director Kay Hayes said Tuesday the specifications for the contract included the addresses of the four schools.

The recycling division of Waste Management, the owner/operator of the Jay County Landfill, formerly handled pick-up of recycling at schools.

But when Waste Management lost the city of Portland curbside contract, it canceled the contract it had with the district to do the school collections.

The same rear-loading trucks were used for both services.[[In-content Ad]]